Island



(No Model.)

G. W. STAFFORD. SHUTTLE BOX OPERATING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS- No. 521,577. Patented June 19,1894.

Lyman/ml 4 mun/1 "I'll/FE] K V w MQAQMILRJ I x 35% v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

GEORGE W. STAFFORD, OF PROVIDENOE, RHODE ISLAND.

SHUTTLE-BO'X-OPERATING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 521,577, dated June 19, 1894. Application filedOctober 31, 1893. Serial No 489,596. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. STAFFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shuttle-Box-Operating Mechanism for Looms, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention is designed principally as an improvement in mechanism for operating the shifting or change shuttle-boxes of looms, although certain of the essential features thereof are capable of being employed in other connections, and is applicable mainly to boxmotions of the. class in which the shuttle boxes are in operative connection with one or more cranks or eccentrics, eachof the latter having imparted to it at predetermined times a movement of semi-rotation for the purpose of moving the shuttle-boxes in one direction or the other and changing the cell thereof which is presented in line with the shuttle raceway on the lathe. Certain types of box-motion pertaining to the class just mentioned have the crank or eccentric aforesaid arranged in operative connection with a toothed gear or pinion, which last, at certain times, that is when it is desired to impart movement of partial rotation to the crank or eccentric, is caused to become engaged by a moving toothed surface, constituted sometimes by what is known as a master-gear,v

and thereby the said toothed gear or pinion is rotated to the extent necessary, usually through a semi-rotation, to shift the connected crank or eccentric sufficiently to produce the required change in the position of the shuttle-boxes.

The invention is serviceable when embodied in box-motions of these types.

It consists in an improved construction and combination of parts, which first will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and then will be particularly pointed out and distinctly defined in the claims at the close of this specification.

' In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of one of the side-frames of a loom having applied thereto a simpleform of boxmotion containing my present invention. Fig. 2 is a View showing the said box-motion as it appears when viewed from the right hand side in Fig. 1, that is to say, from the rear of the loom. Fig. 3 is a view in section on line 3, 3, Fig. 2, looking toward the righthand side in Fig. 2. Figs. 4 and 5 are views in side elevation and end elevation of the sliding collar hereinafter described. Fig. 6 is a view of one of the toothed segments of the intermittingly rotating gear hereinafter described.

At 1 in the drawings is the loom-frame, at 2 the shuttle-boxes, at 3 the shuttle-box-rod, at 4 the box-operating lever having the forward arm thereof connected with the box-rod 3, at 5 a connecting-rod having one end there-' of joined to the rear arm of the lever 4, at 6 a crank-pin to which the other end of such connecting rod is joined, at 7 a disk on which the said crank -pin is mounted, at 8 a short shaft on which the disk 7 is secured, and at y 9 a bearing for the said shaft provided on the framing. The edge of the disk 7' is flattened at opposite sides of the center, and against the said edge bears the squaring lever 10, acted upon by the spring 11, whereby the disk and shaft are held stationary in definite position after each semi-rotation thereof until again acted upon positively and given a further movement of semi-rotation.

The foregoing parts are representative of the devices with which may be associated the improved devices in which my invention more immediately resides. '1 I will now proceed to disclose the character of the latter. At 12 is a gear mounted on the shaft 8 and resembling the mutilated gear which heretofore has been employed in the like location in that it is provided with toothed segments 121, 121, for engagement with the moving toothed surface, the latter being represented by the segmental gear 23, and also in that it is constructed so that the said moving toothed surface will run out of mesh with the respective segments thereof on arriving at one of the spaces intervening between the ends of the said segments, after having rotated the gear to the extent of a semi-rotation. The said gear 12 difiers from prior forms of gear used in the like connection in that the toothed segments 121, 121, are not fixed but movable, the said segments being given capacity for being shifted in position when it is desired that one of them shall become engaged by the moving toothed surface herein represented by gear 23. The gear 12 having movable segments admits of being constructed variously without departure from the spirit of my invention. The drawings show each segment thereof applied to a collar or hub portion 122, the two collars being slipped side by side on the shaft 8, and being free to turn thereon in either direction. The segments have combined therewith cams 13, 13, whereby they may be set in the positions which. determine when their engagement by the moving toothed surface shall occur. In the construction which is represented in the drawings, these cams are shown as consisting of wedges, placed reversely with reference to each other, and occupying positions between the proximate ends of the two segments at opposite sides of the gear. The cams are intended to be thrust first in one direction and then in the other, and when thus operated will act to press toward each other peripherally of the gear the said proximate ends of the segments, on firstone side of the gear and then on the other side thereof, and, conversely, to spread apart the said ends on the side opposite to that on which the ends are caused to approacheach other. When the ends of the segments are spread apart from each other on the side of gear 12 which is next the moving toothed surface, the. latter will not engage with the gear 12, but when the said ends are caused to approach each other on the said side they will be caused to pass into the range of the said moving toothed surface, and one of the segments thereupon will be engaged by the latter so that the gear 12 will be rotated until the space at the opposite side of the same is presented to the moving toothed surface. The gear 12 will then come into astate of rest and remain sta tionary until the cams are again moved to shift the segments into the range of the moving toothed surface and enable one of them to become engaged by the latter. For the purpose of supporting and moving the cams 13, 13, I mount on the shaftSacollar 14 from which the said cams project, and the said collar is formed with a groove 141 in which fit pins 15 in the forked end of a bell-crank 16, the said bell-crank having connected therewith a spring 17 which acts with a tendency to move it in one direction, and a wire or rod 18 which, in practice, is connected with one of the fingers or levers that are acted upon by the usual pattern-chain of the box-motion of a loom, the said wire, &c., acting to move the said collar in the other direction. The collar is engaged by a spline 19 on the shaft 8, and thereby the said shaft, collar and gear 12 are caused to rotate in unison.

What I claim is- .1. The combination with a driver consisting of a moving toothed surface, and the shuttle-boxes, of box-operating devices embracing a driven gear having independently movable toothed segments in the same vertical plane and also means for moving the said toothed segments to throw them atone side of the said gear into range with the said moving toothed surface, as when the gear is to be partially rotated to shift the shuttle-boxes and simultaneously produce an opposite blank space at which the moving toothed surface runs out of mesh to leave the gear at rest, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a moving toothed surface, and the shuttle-boxes, of box-operating devices embracing a gear having movable toothed segments, cams acting on the said toothed segments of the gear to shift them peripherally of the latter, and means for changingthe positions of such cams, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a moving toothed surface, and the shuttle-boxes, of box-operating devices embracing a gear having movable toothed segments, reversely disposed wedge-shaped cams located between the proximate ends of such segments, a collar carrying the said cams,and means for moving the said collar, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a supporting shaft, of the two toothed segments having each a collar or hub slipped upon the said shaft, the reversely disposed wedge-shaped cams placed between the ends of the said segments, and the collar carrying the said cams, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE W. STAFFORD. Witnesses:

CHAS. F. RANDALL,

ROBERT WALLACE. 

